A Light in the Darkness
by Saruvi
Summary: A new case leads to confessions for Tsuzuki and Hisoka.


**Disclaimer:** Yami no Matsuei and the characters Hisoka Kurosaki, Asato Tsuzuki, and other YnM characters are the property of Yoko Matsushita.

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**A/N:** I wrote this for a contest on a site I joined, I didn't win, so I can now put this up here. It had to be yaoi, but not explicit and it had to be 1500 words or less. OMG was writing 1500 words or less hard. Anyway, I hope you like it.

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The two shinigami had a new case. Tatsumi, the Ministry's secretary, handed the file over to Hisoka, who took it and began reading it as soon as it was passed over. Tsuzuki, however was still eating his apple pie and didn't bother to look up. He figured his partner would fill him in on the details of the case.

They had to go to Chijou. Hisoka yelled at Tsuzuki to hurry up or he would leave him behind. They had to help a soul pass on, but when they'd arrived at the soul's place of residence, Hisoka suddenly had a bad feeling. He put his hand on Tsuzuki's arm to stop the man from walking up to the door.

When they walked into the house, Hisoka stepped back, reeling from the emotions flooding it. He squeezed his eyes shut to steady himself, throwing up his shields even higher. Tsuzuki put a hand on the boy's shoulder to see if he was alright. Hisoka opened his green eyes to nod at his partner.

They moved throughout the house, looking for the source of the emotions. They found their soul, a boy of about sixteen sitting on his bed, in his bedroom staring at his father, who was kneeling on the floor infront of the bed. The boy didn't want to go until he'd found out why his father had killed him.

The father explained it'd been an accident, but for some reason the soul didn't believe him. The soul had screamed at his father demanding to know why he'd always hated him and finally, the father had told him he wasn't his son. That his wife had had an affair with her boss and gotten pregnant. So, the father had always hated what wasn't his.

It was all too personal for Hisoka, and the young empath had ended up talking the soul out of his anger. Telling him not to let himself be dragged down to Hell by his anger. Hisoka had told him about his own parents, explaining that people like his parents and this boy's father didn't deserve any emotion wasted on them.

Finally, they'd gotten the soul to calm down enough so that he could pass onto Heaven. The boy seemed sad. He'd loved his father, but his father had hated him, enough to slap him so hard that he'd fallen and hit his head on a table, causing him to die of blood loss when his father hadn't called an ambulance. Before he'd faded away, the boy had told Hisoka thank you and just gave his father a sad look, then he'd faded away.

It took more out of Tsuzuki than it did Hisoka. As personal as it was for the empath, it was even more so for Tsuzuki, who took everything as a personal mark against himself. It was always his fault someone died, his fault someone hurt, his fault he had to take a young boy's soul away from the mortal realm.

It was all too much to bear and the amethyst eyed shinigami passed up the invitation of dinner and dessert with his younger partner and went home.

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Hisoka opened the door to his partner's apartment. His emerald green eyes adjusting to the darkness. He wondered why all the lights were off. He also wondered why his partner hadn't shown up to work that day. Having had to do both shinigami's paperwork, the empath was ready to yell at his lazy partner.

Walking through the darkened apartment, Hisoka reached out with his empathy to try to locate his partner. Gasping when feelings of guilt, shame, worthlessness, loneliness flooded throughout him, the boy realized his partner was somewhere in the back of the apartment. Probably his bedroom. Heading down the hallway, he opened his partner's bedroom door. There was a bit light streaming through the curtains on the windows from the moon.

He could barely make out the form huddled in the corner. The shoulders shaking as the man cried. His despair so great, it almost brought the empath to his knees. Steading himself, Hisoka drew in a sharp breath then let it out slowly. Walking over to his partner, he kneeled down, lifting the older man's head up by the chin. The purple eyes looked like wet amethysts and Hisoka had to hold himself back from taking the man into his arms.

"Tsuzuki," Hisoka whispered.

"Soka, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for this," Tsuzuki whispered, choking on his tears.

That was all it took for Hisoka to reach out and grab hold of his partner. Wrapping his arms around the trembling shoulders, he held onto him tightly. Wanting to project as much comfort as he could into the man that seemed so strong but was so fragile.

"Why this?" the boy asked.

"I don't know. I saw that boy yesterday and I thought how evil I was for taking him away from his life," the older shinigami told him.

"His father took him away from his life Tsu, not you. You only brought him a peace he hadn't had before," Hisoka told him gently.

"It's so hard sometimes. Day after day, taking them away from what they know and love. Then we get to go on as though we aren't affected by what we do," Tsuzuki said.

"You know that isn't true. We are all affected. But this is who we are. I know, I couldn't do this if it weren't for you by my side," Hisoka whispered.

"Me? What is so special about me? I'm a monster," Tsuzuki cried.

"No you're more human than anyone I've ever known," Hisoka told him.

"Are you sure?" the older man asked, looking his partner in the eyes. Emerald sparkling from the moonlight.

"Yes. I'm sure. I could never feel the way I do for you, if you weren't human," the boy replied.

"How do you feel about me Soka?" Tsuzuki prompted.

"I.. I love you. Without you, my life would still be filled with such darkness. You have shown me so much compassion, kindness, and even love that I have fallen in love with you," Hisoka told him.

Tsuzuki entwined his arms around his partner. Holding him closer than he thought possible. He had thought the boy would pull away and call him a baka but he only tightened his own arms around the man.

"I love you too Soka," Tsuzuki whispered. He pulled away to press his lips to the boy's soft pouty mouth. Pressing his tongue against the warmth, he was excited when Hisoka opened his mouth to let Tsuzuki in.

As they kissed, all guilt and shame, loneliness and worthlessness disappeared from the elder's body. He only felt love and kindness. Wanting and needing to be with the one person who understood him. Who had stood by him through everything. The only one who wasn't afraid of his darker side.

"No more feeling bad. It's a job. And sometimes, it's bad, but most of the time, it's not. And at the end of the day, we have each other," Hisoka told him when they pulled apart for breath.

Tsuzuki nodded as he stood up and lifted Hisoka in his arms. He carried him to the bed, laying him gently down, climbing in next to him, he wrapped him in his arms and cuddled him close. If he ever felt down again, he would just need to reach out to Hisoka. His light in the darkness.


End file.
